I am a 0L graduate working full-time as a paralegal, and I will be applying to law school next fall. My GPA is set and I'm happy with my LSAT. Is there anything I can do in my spare time - between now and when I apply in one year's time - to maximize my chances of admission? My hours are tolerable enough so that I have time to volunteer with a non-profit or something like that.

Thanks for the response. I'd rather not disclose at the moment, but I am a splitter with a decent chance at some T14. I may consider retaking the LSAT, but that's a decision completely independent of what I'm asking here. I just want to know - apart from the LSAT - what can I do to increase my chances of admission?

doing_it_in_a_car wrote:Thanks for the response. I'd rather not disclose at the moment, but I am a splitter with a decent chance at some T14. I may consider retaking the LSAT, but that's a decision completely independent of what I'm asking here. I just want to know - apart from the LSAT - what can I do to increase my chances of admission?

doing_it_in_a_car wrote:Thanks for the response. I'd rather not disclose at the moment, but I am a splitter with a decent chance at some T14. I may consider retaking the LSAT, but that's a decision completely independent of what I'm asking here. I just want to know - apart from the LSAT - what can I do to increase my chances of admission?

Get a job. Work for TFA or City Year. This isn't hard.

Thanks for trying to help, but I indicated in my first post that I am working full time as a paralegal. I am wondering what I can do outside of work to improve my chances. I'd also be interested to know if anyone can recommend any such "extracurriculars" as a working professional which have given them an advantage in law school.

If you aren't willing to disclose any information, what kind of advice are you expecting to get?

"I'm happy with my LSAT" means you probably could score higher. A single point increase from 168 to 169, or 171 to 172 is going to make more difference than anything else you could realistically do in a year.

doing_it_in_a_car wrote:Thanks for the response. I'd rather not disclose at the moment, but I am a splitter with a decent chance at some T14. I may consider retaking the LSAT, but that's a decision completely independent of what I'm asking here. I just want to know - apart from the LSAT - what can I do to increase my chances of admission?

Get a job. Work for TFA or City Year. This isn't hard.

Thanks for trying to help, but I indicated in my first post that I am working full time as a paralegal. I am wondering what I can do outside of work to improve my chances. I'd also be interested to know if anyone can recommend any such "extracurriculars" as a working professional which have given them an advantage in law school.

I know a few former paralegals who had an easier time in LRW due to prior familiarity with memos, briefs, client letters, etc. Can't think of anything else to help. Otherwise enjoy the next year.

You really can't do anything, you are working FT, your GPA is set, you don't want to retake. Short of like getting to know the president and having him go to bat for you in a LoR the best thing you can do for yourself is enjoy the time you have until law school and let the pieces fall as they may.

doing_it_in_a_car wrote:Thanks for trying to help, but I indicated in my first post that I am working full time as a paralegal. I am wondering what I can do outside of work to improve my chances. I'd also be interested to know if anyone can recommend any such "extracurriculars" as a working professional which have given them an advantage in law school.

Become a more interesting person. Seriously. Hobbies, obscure expertise, learn a new language, stuff like that.

You could find a regular volunteer gig that's not too taxing (couple hours 1x or 2x per month). It won't magically get you into Harvard with UVA numbers, but it always looks good on a resume, especially if you keep it up for a year.

2014 wrote:You really can't do anything, you are working FT, your GPA is set, you don't want to retake. Short of like getting to know the president and having him go to bat for you in a LoR the best thing you can do for yourself is enjoy the time you have until law school and let the pieces fall as they may.

This, other than try to pick up as much as you can as a paralegal. Like a prior poster, I've also known former paralegals who did well in LRW. That's about all you can do.

If where you are working now is where you want to be after school you should network both within and outside of the firm you are at now. Also some mild volunteering would probably be good, might even give you something good to talk about in your cover letters for 1L summer.

As someone else suggested, why not study a new language on your own? I have heard that German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Korean, Russian, and Arabic are all useful to varying degrees at OCI. The East Asian languages are too difficult to learn from scratch in two years. Not sure about Italian, Cantonese, Farsi, etc. I don't think any of the Indian languages are useful; as I understand it, English is the language of business and law in India.